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Mandel went on a Cleveland radio station Tuesday morning and suggested that the financial meltdown of 2008 was created by Washington politicians—not predatory mortgage lenders, lax regulators, incompetent ratings agencies, too-clever-by-half bankers, or delusional homeowners—seemingly as a way to pass the bank bailout.

Mandel’s interviewer with station WMMS remarks that the US “would be in real financial ruin if some of those banks were allowed to collapse.” But Mandel doesn’t buy it. He fires back: “This is what happens in Washington: These politicians, they create a crisis and then they come in and try to take credit for solving the crisis. And it’s exactly what’s wrong with Washington.”

Here’s the clip of Mandel’s remarks, provided by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign, with a transcript to follow:

Transcript:

Host: Those banks, I mean, we would be in real financial ruin if some of those banks were allowed to collapse. You know, the credit markets were frozen. We were in a huge disaster. Now, I don’t like it. I don’t think anyone likes it. But to say that it was—look, we’re still here. We still have money in the bank. People can go in and get their checkings [sic] and get a check and use their debit card and that kinda stuff. That was a real possibility—that that may not happen if we didn’t do some of those things.

Mandel: You know, I think there were a lot of scare tactics used to pressure congressmen and senators to support [the financial bailout]. And this is what happens in Washington: These politicians, they create a crisis and then they come in and try to take credit for solving the crisis. And it’s exactly what’s wrong with Washington.

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